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Examples Of Nihilism In Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf

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The play, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, written by Edward Albee in 1962, is set on a chilly winter night in New England University during the time of The Cold War. It gives a vital insight into the American life through two couples while bringing out the raw human truth behind the phony exterior portrayed by the society. Albee presents characters caught in hopeless, repetitive, and meaningless situation, trying to battle their inner turmoil between truth and illusions. The meaninglessness of life is further brought out through the distorted relationships between the characters by Albee’s characterisation. He brings out the sense of Nihilism where the lack of belief in the world is fuelled by the fear of a nuclear war. The contagious trepidation of death makes the characters question the purpose of life and its significance. This essay will examine how Albee uses the technique of characterization to candidly represent the theme of nihilism through dialogues, symbols, setting and tone. Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf is a three act play set in the home of a middle aged couple, George and Martha, who have just made a drunken return from a University …show more content…

It was a struggle of dominance that led to the creation of psychological warfare, espionages and competitions in all aspects that had a deadly impact on the people of the nations. Sides were being taken, international relationships were being destroyed and the worst of all, lives were being sacrificed. As George says in the first act, “I will not give up Berlin!”, it signifies the war between USA and USSR where Berlin was a hot bed of tension and was in the middle of the combat, with both sides trying to divide it and impose their beliefs onto it. George is representing the conflicts amongst the characters compared to that of America as a whole and how he is not ready to give up and will not back down without a

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This further represents the battle between the insider and outsider where Woolf does this kind of thing in her narration in order to show the audience what substance you get if you have a subjective point of view, which is nothing considering there is not an actual plot in this novel—just the telling of life happenings of the characters. Richardson further discussed the reaction from

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Ajay Bal Mrs. Schaffer ENG3U-K October 28, 2015 Edward Albee is a renowned American writer known for his works. One of his works is Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? This play is about an old married couple that have guest over, the whole night they play various games, but there is a greater message which you find by digging through the information given so you can understand what the story is talking about. Edward Albee was frequently considered a well-crafted realistic analysis of modern condition. Edward Albee in his early works was reflected on a mastery and americanization of the theatre of absurd.

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